Camera offline since transferred to Google Home

[svb321]

I've searched the posts to see if I can find my problem, but I can't find it anywhere. I have a Google Doorbell and two Google Cams. They're all wired (power connected). The lights on all three devices are green. However, I can't see live video through the Google Home app. This has been happening since I transferred the doorbell from Nest to Home. The devices seem to be working fine, as I receive motion notifications. I can also watch recorded clips. However, none of them show live video anymore. Google Home says the camera is offline and displays a black screen. The devices are listed and connected on my router, so everything seems fine regarding connectivity. Even when someone rings the doorbell, the lights on the doorbell turn on correctly. It just doesn't transmit the signal to my speaker that someone has rung the doorbell. It's been like this for a while now; I just want to be able to see live video again. What can I do? This is very annoying.

[Kaissandei]

Absolutely feel duped! They knew what they were doing to make our cameras obsolete. They even went up on their cloud subscription prices for video instead of stills. Why would I pay for something that doesn’t even work? They definitely should be held accountable. Replace my cameras they broke with new ones because I won’t be buying them front Google 

[MrMichael]

I gave up and bought an Aqara camera instead. Much nicer quality image, works with Apple home app. Overall better product. 

[Slack0logy]

[Slack0logy]

That's as far as I can get with them, It finds the camera and communicates with it all the way to connecting to the Wi-Fi and then drops.. and I have tried with three different Wi-Fi connections in different places. 100% on Google

[Ahughes257]

Been battling for a while. Returned device to nest app; no luck. 

Removed completely and factlry reset; no luck. 

Just getting nc009 error on re adding to network; says my network isnt allowing it to be added, which is bs as it was added fine and no network change happened. 

Will not get past this error, connects and tests network fine, hits the adding to nest app and breaks. 

The device is completely useless. 

[Elanc]

I had the same problem.  Older 1st Gen camera was migrated from Nest app to Google Home and stopped connecting.  The only thing that would bring it back online for a short while was to power cycle the camera.  My newer cameras have been working fine.  Yesterday I signed up for Google Home Premium so that it would save up to 30 days of monitoring history, and now the 1st Gen camera works.  So basically it's a scam to get people to replace their old cameras or sign up for Google Home Premium.

[Kaissandei]

That’s crazy unethical. I already paid for the expensive camera, I shouldn’t have to buy their service (that they also went up in price on) to make them work again when they worked fine without it. 

[dtedwards]

Are they still working after a few days? Multiple people report that rebooting them makes them work for a few hours. I'm curious if yours working was just temporary with the 30 days of monitoring history.

[Slack0logy]

I absolutely agree Total scam.. maybe they are really feeling The pinch from 𝕏 grok and taking it out on their customers. 😂

[Annoyed13]

So there has been no advancement in the nest cameras working again? 

[tmer]

They told me my two were out of warranty and couldnt be fixed. They did offer me enough money to nearly replace one of them. I took it so I would at least have one working camera. Won’t spend any more of my money on their products. Still have one gen 1 camera that was never transferred to Google home. Working fine. They remind me daily to transfer it. No way! 

[thomie]

How much did they offer if I may ask?

[tmer]

$75.00 credit.

[Alaina92]

They only offered me $50 credit for a similar issue on the Google Wi-Fi system not connecting around the same timeframe 

[thomie]

for how many devices?

[Kaissandei]

But this isn't a warranty issue. They broke the connection in the software. The hardware has been working fine. Them putting it off that the hardware just happened to break on everyone the moment they migrated is laughable and insulting

[Slack0logy]

I'm hearing that if you pay for a monthly subscription that Google will consider allowing your cameras to work again.. I think it's a pretty shady way to do business... These cameras were expensive and they were well built. Really makes me question if I ever want to do business with anything Google related again which is next to impossible of course. 🤔

[tmer]

I got a subscription but me two still don’t work. Don’t believe that is the solution. 

[Ahughes257]

I already pay the subscription and mine are still bricked... 

[clawhamm3r]

All of you saying this is a scam to get you to sign up for the subscription sound ridiculous and aren't adding anything constructive. I was a paying subscriber long before this issue.

I narrowed the issue down to the OG cameras which I opted into the "Gemini for Home camera features (Early access)" feature. I've kept the thread going in my original post here updated if you're interested, I'm sure it's buried up there.

I talk to Google senior support at least once a week who keeps assuring me engineering is working on a fix. There's no way they're going to be able to fix the cameras that are bricked, IMO. I'm pushing for replacement/reimbursement.

[Kaissandei]

Don’t think it’s just for the subscription service but to update to their newer cameras. As of now most of us haven’t been able to be in contact with Google let alone a senior support specialist and they aren’t answering anything on this thread so there is only so much we can go by. Some of us were long time paying customers until things started breaking and why pay for a service that no longer works?

Have they given any kind of eta of a fix? Why are they ignoring most of the people reaching out? Communication is key and if they just keep telling us it’s our issue and not acknowledging to us that there is an issue on their end then what are we to think? So far the only solutions we’ve seen is buy the subscription or get a newer camera. Maybe you can share you contact at Google so we can all talk to them 

[clawhamm3r]

A scheme to get us to buy new cameras is more believable than generating subscriptions, but I'm still going to hold off with my tinfoil hat. I'm with you, I have all of the same questions. I've been a subscriber for 6 or 7 years now.

They have giving me nothing besides stalling for more time. I've told them it's clear there's not going to be a fix I want them to replace my cameras and refund part of my subscription for the last few months that only have of my property is being monitored. 

I opened a support case and chatted with 3 different people over a couple of hours. At the end I requested follow up via email. Not sure if they'll reply without a case # but here's the address they contact me from: googlenest-support@google(dot)com . I'm not gatekeeping info. I will keep pressing them for resolution...for all of us. 

[tmer]

I had the subscription service as well. My two gen 1 cameras just won’t connect to the internet when and since I migrated them to Google Home, even though my router says they are connected. I have spoken to Google support, Google senior support and emails. They finally told me mine are un fixable and they said since they are out of warrwnty, I was out of luck. They did offer close to enough Google credit to buy I new wired indoor camera. I took it and will move on to another brand when my current Google products stop working. 

[Decay273]

I’m not sure if this will work for everyone but when I power cycle my nonworking cameras they will reconnect and work in the app. However, they loose connection in about an hour or so. The only thing that has worked for me is to power cycle them and then I went into settings for each nonworking camera and turned off the video history.  Now they are staying connected in the app. Google, I’m not a programmer but you don’t have to be a genius to figure out this is a software issue with the Home app. Please have your engineers look at it. 

[Kaissandei]

This makes me think the software is going into some kind of standby and then stops communicating with the camera. This explains why paying for the subscription would work because the software would never stop talking to the camera. I am going to give your solution a try tomorrow and see if it works.  

[Joninsocal]

Just FYI I pay for the subscription and have the same problems….. Everything worked fine while they were in Nest and I could view them continually through google home. Since moving to Google Home, continual unable to connect etc.

[Liamdg1]

This is so incredibly frustrating. If this is Google trying to force their customers from using this product, there should be a clear warning and explanation instead of “upgrading your experience” or “optimizing.” We’ve lost access to hundreds and hundreds of dollars of equipment and there is NO help from Google. We have:

- Nest Cam Outdoor

- No poor connection to other devices

- Connected at 5gHz

- Connected to main router

We have gone through the setup on Google home all the way to the point where it says the device is, “Connected”, but then the screen freezes and requires restarting. I’ve done this 5 times now to the same result. 

[Liamdg1]

You are LOSING CUSTOMERS!

[alitgreen]

I’ve been struggling with the exact same problems as everybody in this thread. the best solution I have found is from some advice in this thread. Although not ideal, I restarted the cameras, and in the few minutes that they actually worked, I turned the video history off in settings. The cameras seemed to be staying connected now. 

[thomie]

How long have they been connected since?

[Scrops]

Seems to highly suggest they're intentionally hobbling their hardware to force people into their new subscription model.  

It's a shame because I love the hardware but unless there's a satisfactory fix it'll be the last Google device I buy, phones included

[alitgreen]

3 days and still connected! 

[CGMT04]

I followed @alitgreen  recommendation and it seems to be working; the camera connection has been stable for 3 days. The history option is gone, but at least you can use them for monitoring.

[CGMT04]

Here's a method that seems to be temporarily solving the problem.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Apps-Account/Camera-offline-since-transferred-to-Google-Home/...

[clawhamm3r]

I don't know if you guys get notifications when I reply to myself in my reply thread from 2 months ago, but they gave me a $50 appeasement credit in the Google Store for the disruption to my service, and as of today have issued an RMA for all four of my dead cameras and will replace them once they receive the old ones. They also offered advanced replacement but I'm not risking pre-paying for 4 cameras and then they get my old ones and find a reason to not refund me my money.

Glad some of you are able to avoid total loss by toggling off video history. Mine were sketchy for weeks before totally dying, power cycling usually fixed it, yes. But eventually they totally died and power cycling and changing settings did nothing at all.

[CGMT04]

Here's a method that seems to be temporarily solving the problem.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Apps-Account/Camera-offline-since-transferred-to-Google-Home/...

[Joninsocal]

Switching the history off makes them useless to me - I'm not watching the cameras the point is to be able to go back and see waht/who happened.

[Scrops]

That seems unacceptable when paying for video history

[Kaissandei]

My husband decided to give their subscription a try.  3 days and our cameras are still working. It is not as seamless as Nest. There are times when it won't load right away, and one even went offline once, but it came back without rebooting. I do agree with someone who said there's no point in having the cameras if you can't look at history, so turning it off wasn't really the option for us. Either way it a losing situation, but for now I can say that having a subscription has for the most part fixed the issue for us. But it also confirms that it is a software issue and whatever they did to the software stops it from communicating with the cameras.

[thomie]

I also reïnstalled the camera and turned off video history (I didn't use that anyway). The camera has been working normally for three days now. This proves that the problem is software/Google related. It's disgraceful Google keeps acting like it's not their fault.